Apparel apparatus



July 30, 1940.

J. D. NATHAN v 2,209,468

APPAREL APPARATUS Filed Sept. 26, 1939 INVENTOR Joseph D. Nathan JATTORNEY Patented July 30, 1940 UNITED srArEs PATENT orricr.

Joseph D. Nathan, Hartford, Conn.

Application September 26, 1939, Serial No. 296,633

'7 Claims.

This invention relates to apparel apparatus and more especially togarment hangers.

It is customary for dealers in mens and womens ready-made garments, tosuspend the garments on hangers which, in turn, are hung on poles orother supports in cases or on racks for storage and exhibition purposes,from which they are removed when being displayed to the customer.Two-piece dresses require a type of hanger which will support both thecoat, waist, jacket orblouse, and the skirt, and whereas the usual bowedhanger equipped with a hook is sufiicient for the one-piece dresses, itis not adapted for the support and display of two-piece garments.

Every dealer has a large stock of hangers, not only of the kind thatcomprise simply a bow of wood or metal equipped centrally of its convexedge with a vertically extending hook to take over a horizontal,supporting pole, for instance,

but also one-piece combination hangers, consisting of curved supportingmembers, on which coats may be draped, and provided with jaws betweenwhich to clamp the waist bands of skirts or the lower ends of trouserlegs.

Due to changes in the styles of womens apparel, the dealer must keep onhand a stock of both kinds of hangers, as in one season, one-piecedresses will be more popular and in greater demand than two-piecegarments, whereas the next season, the styles may change, and two piecedresses will be more favored than the onepiece garments.

One object of my invention is to reduce the cost of hangers to thegarment dealer, as well as to reduce the number of hangers necessary tobe kept on hand, by providing an attachment removably applicable to theusual bowed hanger to enable it to properly support two-piece garments.

Thus, in seasons when single-piece dresses are the vogue, the dealer canutilize his stock of the common form of bowed hanger, without'myattachment, whereas in seasons when two-piece garments are popular, hecan utilize his same 5 stock of the common form of hanger, by. applyingmy attachment thereto, instead of having to acquire an additional supplyof hangers especially adapted for supporting two-piece garments, andstoring the hangers appropriate to single-piece garments only.

Another object is to provide an attachment for single-piece hangers onwhich two-piece garments may be displayed and presented for inspectionby the sales person to prospective customers in such manner as to haveeye appeal.

Thus, customers are influenced, often unconsciously, by the first sightof a dress.

If the dress is-supported properly on the hanger in such manner that nounsightly parts of the hanger are exposed and the garments do not look-5 1 bunchy, the openings of the dress being closed, either by beingbuttoned up, or zippered up, and the skirt carefully folded and held insuch condition by its waistband at the same length below the lower edgeof the waist or blouse that it would 10 occupy when being worn by anindividual, its presentation to the eye of the customer in such relationeffects a much better and more favorable impression than if the garmentsare not in proper relation. The sales person removes the garment'l5"with its hanger from the show or storage case and holds the combinationup by the hanger, for the customers inspection and approval, turning thehanger to present both front and back of the garments. 20;

If, by reason of an improperly designed hanger, the skirt is supportedtoo far up within the waist or blouse, so as to appear too short, theeffect is unpleasant.

My attachment for hangers is particularly de- 25; signed to enabletwo-piece garments to be supported on hangers in such manner that theproper length relationship between the upper and lower garment ismaintained, and the lower garment or skirt is held against unfoldingacciden- 30 tally, while on the hanger.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of an attachmentfor hangers which'is re movably applied to the hangers to adapt a singlegarment hanger for the support of upper and low- 35 or garments withoutnecessitating any change whatever in the hanger itself.

A further object is the provision of an attachment for hangers which isreadily applied to and removed from the hanger. 40

A still further object is the provision of a durable, unitary attachmentfor a hanger, which is of simple construction, inexpensive tomanufacture, and salable at low cost.

To these and other ends, my invention in- ,5. cludes certain novelfeatures and combinations of parts, all of which will be more fully setforth hereinafter andpartioularly pointed out in the claims. 7

In the accompanying drawing, 50

Figure 1 is a View of one style of the invention applied to a hanger ofwell-known form, the up per and lower garments supported thereon, beingindicated by dotanddash lines;

' Figure 2 is a perspective view of the invention; 55,;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a slightly modified form ofattachment; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view of a modified means for connecting theattachment to its hanger.

The hanger 5 may be of the well-known varity comprising an arcuate orbowed body member, generally of wood, and either oval, round, orflatsided in cross-section.

The usual form of hook 6 is fastened to and projects upwardly from theapproximate center of the convex edge of the body member 5.

In use, as is well understood, the opposite ends of the bowed bodymember are thrust through the armscyes of an upper garment and into theupper ends of the sleeves thereof, so that when the hanger is hung on apole or hook, for instance, the shoulders and upper ends of the sleevesof the garment will rest upon the convex portion of the hanger and besupported thereby.

The embodiments of my new attachment selected for illustration, aredesigned to be removably applied to hangers of this type.

Of the several features of this invention, one is the provision of anattachment which will be concealed by the upper garment.

This is an important object of the invention, to enable the presentationof a suit, or a two-piece garment in such a manner as shall beattractive to the eye of the prospective customer and favorably impressthe customer from a display angle so that he or she will be predisposedto purchase the goods.

To this end, the upper end of the rigid or stiff body portion 1 of myattachment for the hanger is formed approximately V-shapecl, thediverging limbs 8, 8 of which may terminate at their respective upperends in eyes or loops 9, 9. Conveniently, though not necessarily, theeyes may ;be shaped to fit the cross-sectional area of the arcuateportion 5 of the hanger.

Attention is directed to the fact that the free ends of the materialforming the eyes 9, 9 is not fastened to the limbs 8, 8. In other words,the eyes are not completely closed, which enables the formation of theseeyes a trifle smaller than the cross-sectional area of the hanger towhich they are applied, so that the eyes may be threaded on the ends ofthe hanger arms and forced along the arms until the attachment dependscentrally from the hanger, the eyes having some frictional engagementwith the hanger arms, which tends to retain the attachment in itsadjusted position on the hanger.

Furthermore, by omitting to completely close the eyes 9, 9, they can beexpanded or contracted to a slight extent, to enable them to fit hangersof differently shaped and sized cross sections.

The attachment can be constructed of metal, plastic material, whalebone,or equivalent material, but it is preferred that the limbs 8, 8 have asufficient amount of springiness or resilience to enable them to beslightly spread apart, so as to remain concealed irrespective of thesize or width of the neck opening in the upper garment supported on thehanger.

The limbs 8, 8 of the hanger are divergent to prevent any part of theattachment from being exposed to view after the upper garment is placedon the hanger and buttoned up, for example.

The divergent limbs will lie concealed within the upper garment, andthus avoid one source of unpleasing appearance.

That form of attachment shown in Figures 1 and 2 is constructed of apair of slender, fiat strips of resilient material, each of which ispermanently bent edgewise about midway of its length to form thedivergent limbs 8, 8. The strips are rigidly secured together at thejuncture of the limbs 8, 8, as at It], in any convenient manner, as byriveting, spotwelding, or the like.

The lower ends or legs of these resilient strips are given a permanentset or spread in a direction at substantial right angles to the planeoccupied by the limbs 8, 8, the free ends of the legs being secured towide clamping jaws II, II extending transversely of the strips andsubstantially parallel with, but beneath the hanger 5.

A constricting ring or slide I2 embraces the parallel legs or lowerlimbs of the attachment. By sliding this ring along the legs in a.direction away from the clamping jaws, the resilient legs are permittedto spread apart with the clamping jaws II, II to accommodate thethickness of the folded waist band of a skirt, for instance, or the freeends of trouser legs, or other nether garment.

After the waist band has been introduced between the clamping jaws H, H,the constricting ring i2 is slid towards the jaws, squeezing thespreading lower limbs together, and firmly clamping the jaws upon thewaist band to support the lower garment in suspended position in theshow case, or when presented for inspection by the prospective customer.

Preferably, the abutting surfaces of the jaws are faced with a suitablematerial l3, as felt, to avoid marking or injuring the garment, andtoincrease the clamping action of the jaws, as well as facilitating thefrictional engagement of the jaws with the garment.

By sliding the constricting ring l2 away from the jaws II, II, theinherent resilience of the material of which the attachment is made,causes the lower limbs to spread apart with the jaws, and release thegarment.

The distance between the eyes 9, 9 at one end of each strip, and theclamping jaws at the opposite end of each strip is determined by theaverage distance from the shoulders of an upper garment to the waistband of a lower garment of a suit or ensemble as it is adapted to beworn on the person.

Obviously, when the hanger equipped with my removable attachment is usedfor displaying mens suits, the coat and vest are draped in the usualmanner on the hanger 5. The waist band of the trousers need notnecessarily be folded before being clamped between the jaws ll, afterwhich the coat and vest are buttoned to conceal the attachment.

In Figure 3, there is shown a slight modification, wherein the bodyportion of the attachment is formed of a pair of resilient wires twistedtogether intermediate their ends, as at 7', thus eliminating thenecessity for spot welding or riveting connections at this point.

The upper limbs 8', B of the wire body portion diverge in the samemanner as do the limbs 8, 8 in Figures 1 and 2, and for the samepurpose, the limbs 8, 8 having eyes 9, 9 formed in their upper ends tofit over the arms of any common form of hanger 5.

The lower limbs or legs of the wire body portion normally spring apart,as in the form shown in Figures 1 and 2, and have jaws H, II affixed inany convenient manner to their free ends to clamp upon and hold thewaist bands of skirts.

Figure 4 illustrates a second modification, wherein the upper ends ofthe limbs 8, 8 of my attachment are positively connected to the hanger5.

To this end, the hanger may have a pair of holes M, [4 formed therein toaccommodate the upper free ends of the limbs 8, 8, which ends are thenbent to form eyes, and serve to attach the suspension attachment morepositively to the hanger against accidental disconnection therefrom.

Provision of a plurality of holes M in the respective arms of the hangerenables the location of the upper ends of the elastic limbs 8, 8 atproperly spaced points to hold them spread at the desired V-shapedangle. The partly closed eyes at the upper ends of the limbs 8', 8, maybe entered in any of the holes I4, 14, to vary theangular relation ofthe limbsfl, 8, according to the width of opening of the neck of theupper garments.

The attachment occupies but little space so as to permit packing a largenumber thereof in comparatively small compass for shipment or storage.

The garments are readily draped upon and removed from the combinationhanger of this invention, and the stiffness or rigidity of the materialof which the attachment is constructed enables the combination hanger tobe handled and the garments applied thereto and removed therefrom moreeasily than if the attachment embodied lax, loosely hanging suspensionmembers.

Changes may be made in the form, arrangement and materials of the partswithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a hanger having oppositely extending arms: of anattachment applicable to the hanger, including a substantially Y-shapedframe, comprising a pair, of limbs relatively divergent in one plane;and a pair of limbs adapted for relative divergence in a differentplane; clamping jaws carried by the lastnamed limbs; and a deviceslidable along the last-named limbs to constrict or release such limbs.

2. The combination with a hanger having oppositely extending arms: of anattachment removably applicable to the hanger to adapt it to supportnether garments, including a pair of body members secured together attheir median portions; the upper limbs of the body members diverging inone plane, the upper ends of which are attached to the opposite arms ofthe hanger, respectively, the lower limbs of the body members divergingin another plane; and clam-ping means carried by the lower limbs.

3. The combination with a hanger having oppositely extending arms onwhich an upper garment may be supported; of an attachment for the hangerincluding a Y-shaped body, the divergent upper limbs of which areconnected to the respective arms of the hanger at points as to maintainsuch divergence whereby the limbs are concealed by the upper garment;the stem of the Y-shaped body portion including resilient legs; andclamping means carried by the legs.

4. The combination with a hanger having oppositely extending arms onwhich an upper garment may be draped; of an attachment for the hanger,comprising a pair of somewhat resilient members twisted together at apoint substantially intermediate their ends, the straight ends adaptedto form a pair of upper limbs and a pair of legs, the upper limbs beingspread apart in the plane of the hanger; and removably attached at theirupper ends to the respective opposite arms of the hanger; the legsnormally tending to spread apart in a plane at substantial right anglesto the plane of the upper limbs; and clamping means carried by the lowerlimbs.

5. The combination with a hanger having oppositely extending arms tosupport an upper garment: of an attachment removably applicable theretoto support a nether garment, and including a body portion having upperand lower limbs; the upper limbs diverging in one plane from a pointsubstantially midway of the length of the attachment; means to attachthe upper limbs to the opposite arms: of the hanger; the lower limbsbeing inherently resilient to normally spread apart in a plane atsubstantial right angles to the first-named plane; clamping jaws securedto the free ends of the lower limbs; and means to control the clampingjaws, the attachment being of sufficient length to support a nethergarment in the same relation to an upper garment that it would occupy ifthe garment were worn on the person.

6. A supporting device for two-piece garments, including an arcuatehanger having oppositely extending arms, each of which is provided withone or more perforations; an attachment for the hanger comprising asubstantially Y-shaped body portion, the upper divergent limbs of whichare concealed within the upper garment draped on the hanger; the freeends of the divergent limbs removably entered in selected perforationsin the respective opposite arms of the hanger; the lower limbs formingthe stem of the Y-shaped body portion, and adapted to spread apart in aplane at substantial right angles to the plane of the upper divergentlimbs; clamping jaws carried by the lower limbs; and means to effect aclamping and a release of the jaws.

7. A supporting device for two-piece garments, including in combination,an arcuate hanger having oppositely extending arms, each of which isprovided with a plurality of perforations; and an attachment for thehanger including a substantially Y-shaped frame, the upper arms of whichdiverge to form a V; eyes on the free ends of the frame arms to enterany of the perforations on the respective arms of the hanger whereby toafford an adjustment of the angular relation of the arms of the frameaccording to the width of the neck-opening of the upper garment, thelegs forming the stem of the Y- shaped frame adapted for spreading apartin a plane at substantial right angles to the plane of divergence of theV-shaped arms of the frame; and clamping means carried by the legs.

JOSEPH D. NATHAN.

